How to Use This Tablature - (Print with Courier 10 font)
Tablature uses numbers instead of notes to show the fingering on a plucked
string instrument. For the mandolin, it starts with lines representing the
four pairs of strings, as if the mandolin were put back down on your lap,
with the headstock facing to your left. This makes the top line represent the
first or highest string (the E string) and so on:
1(E)---------------------------------------------------------------------
2(A)---------------------------------------------------------------------
3(D)---------------------------------------------------------------------
4(G)---------------------------------------------------------------------
I then divide each line into two measures. Keeping accurate measure lines is
critical to helping the reader get a feel for a new piece and to make reading
easier. The eye needs these measure lines to make sense of the music.
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
Then the notes are written in on the lines, as below. They are played in
sequence from the first note which is a G (1st string, 3rd feet) on to the
last note, an A (2nd string, open). At the beginning of the 2nd measure there
are two notes written, one above the other, They are played at the same time,
with a single stroke of the pick. (The tune, by the way, is from "Blackberry
Blossom.")
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
But now we have trouble with the timing. To help in counting out the rhythm
of the tune, I add 4 down beat lines for the notes that hit the count 1, 2,
3, 4:
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
| | | | | | | |
I then add a further visual cue by connecting each pair with a bar. I collect
fingerstyle guitar instrumentals and I have come to depend on this bar to
help me read more accurately what I have written. It makes the four count
more visible for me.
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
Not all notes are played on the downbeats. Some are played on the off beats
and I mark these and the down beats with a lines over each note. Now we have
time 1 and, 2 and, 3 and, 4 and written over the basic 1, 2, 3, 4 count:
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
I complete these top markers with a bar across the top which, I believe,
gives the new player the visual cues needed to understand what is going on in
the piece. Notice that the first note pair in the second measure has no upper
bracket. I eliminated it as a visual cue that there is no off beat note and
that the down beat note pair is held for the whole count.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
All we have to do now is add chords for the rhythm player and the tab is
complete.
G___ ___ D___ ___ C ___ G___ ___
| | | | | | | | | | | | | |
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2---0--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
You are also ready to write some pretty complicated stuff down. For instance,
here I have added a triplet (3 notes played in the space of two) at the end.
I have you sliding from the 2nd string, 2nd fret to the 2nd string 1st fret;
and then pulling off from the 2nd string 1st fret to the open 1st string..
G___ ___ D___ ___ C ___ G___ _3_
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
----3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|---0-------3---0-------------------
------------------------------------|---3----------------5---3---2-1-0--
------------------------------------|----------------------------sl-po--
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
I believe these top and bottom brackets are as important as measure lines in
making a piece readable and in making a system nearly as flexible as standard
notation.
For laughs, here's how I'd notate the first measure as two measures of waltz
(3/4) time:
G ___ ___ D ___ ___
| | | | | | | |
----3-------------5-----7---3-------|---2-------------3-----5---2-------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|_________|_________| |_________|_________|
Here, the upper brackets make it clear that the second note of each measure
comes on an offbeat.
And a typical jig (6/8 time):
D_______ _______ Am_______ _______
| | | | | | | | | | | |
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
------------------------------------|-----0--------------0---2---3------
-------0---2---0------0---2---5-----|-------------5---------------------
------------------------------------|-----------------------------------
|______________| |______________|
I've kept the upper brackets, even when there is no note played because in
jig time it helps my eye keep the 1, 2, 3; 1, 2, 3 count going over the
basic 1, 2 count.
Some more musical notations: the repeat signs mean play everything in between
twice:
G___ ___ D___ ___ C ___ G___ _3_
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
||--3---5---7---3----2---3---5---2--|-0-------3---0-------------------||
||o---------------------------------|-3----------------5---3---2-1-0-o||
||o---------------------------------|--------------------------sl-po-o||
||----------------------------------|---------------------------------||
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
And if there is a different ending the second time through, it looks like
this with the first and second endings on the same line:
___________________________________ ___________________________________
|1 C ___ G___ ___ ||2 C ___ G___ ___
| | | | | | | || | | | | | |
----0-------3---0-------------------||---0-------3---0-------------------
----3----------------5---3---2-1-0-o||---3----------------5---3---2------
-----------------------------sl-po-o||--------------------------------5--
------------------------------------||-----------------------------------
|_______| |_______| |_______| |_______|
There's more, but these are the basics. Hope it helps those of you who are
new to this. I worked out all this while teaching myself guitar and mandolin
and I have used it with students over the years so it works for me. I hope it
works for you.
Dennis Ladd
12/16/96